SKYTRAX is a United Kingdom-based firm which runs an airline review and ranking site. They have awarded Qatar Airways their prestigious 5-Star rating – a rating that only 6 other airlines in the world hold.

In their own words:

"A 5-Star Airline rating recognises airlines whose front-line staff (across airport and onboard experience) deliver a true and consistent 5-Star standard of service delivery."

Qatar Airways is indeed renowned for providing top notch service to their passengers, but it’s a different story for their employees.  Qatar Airways' own employees, the majority of whom are migrant workers,  are denied even the most basic rights.

The same front-line staff which deliver the high quality service SKYTRAX lauds lack  self-determination: they are not free to choose the course of their own lives.  Migrant workers quickly learn that life in Qatar is not all that was promised to them when they left their homes. Qatar Airways regularly uses the ability to withhold exit visas for punitive purposes -- restricting employees freedom of movement, a right protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  They are also able to seize employee bank accounts, or even have their employees taken into custody by authorities.

Human Rights Watch in their 2014 report notes that in Qatar: “The authorities have ignored warnings to reform a legal and regulatory system that facilitates forced labor.”  Amnesty International and other international organizations have expressed similar concerns.

A UK-based firm should not be rewarding this behavior by recognizing Qatar Airlines with prestigious industry awards.

It's time to revoke Qatar Airways status as a 5-Star Airline.

Read more:

http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/the-truth-about-the-luxury-of-qatar-airways/

Petition Image Credit: Creative Commons, https://secure.flickr.com/photos/levien66/3562883557/